The nation, in the last few years, has been passing through a stage when anxiety was written large on most faces. The worry so manifested varied from one class of society to another. Broadly, if we divide society into four main classes, the feelings of anxiety for each class could be perceived in its true perspective.
Unlike the French Revolution, when two classes, Privileged and Unprivileged, existed in the society and ultimately caused the revolution, our society can be divided into four classes realistically. These classes are the elite Class, Middle Class, Lower Middle Class and Poor Class. The Elite Class is represented by the types of Marie Antoinette, the last French queen before the revolution, who is known for saying, “Why don’t they eat cake”, when the poor begged for food to fill their empty stomachs.
Members of the Elite class in society are only concerned about how to get wealthier, where to invest to earn more and thus enrich themselves, while 95 million Pakistanis live below the poverty line, according to a World Bank report. The middle classes, as usual, bear the brunt of high prices, heavy taxation and increasing utility bills. The latest hit is likely to be a 200% increase in the price of gas since the Ministry of Petroleum has already prepared the summary to present to the government.
Members of the Elite class are only concerned about how to get wealthier while 95 million Pakistanis live below the poverty line.
However, the most damaging and irreversible loss the nation suffers is the brain drain of highly educated citizens such as doctors, engineers and foreign-qualified PhD professors. According to official documents, more than 765,000 educated citizens left the country for employment abroad in 2022. The rising cost of living and economic uncertainty are the main causes for the educated lot to leave the country.
While many of the qualified men seek employment in European countries, a sizable number among them also prefer Middle Eastern countries. The lower class seeking menial jobs heads for Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other Gulf states.
The most worrisome aspect however is the exodus of the PhD doctors employed in upscale universities. I once asked a qualified professor for his reason for quitting an honourable job at a prestigious university. He replied, “When I joined the university in 2011, my salary was Rs 1,25,000 which when converted to UK pounds amounted to about 1000 pounds at that time. Now my salary with promotion has increased to Rs3,00,000, which is almost equivalent to almost 1000 UK pounds according to the existing parity between the two currencies. In other words, there is no real increase in salary in terms of buying power even though I was an assistant professor in 2011 and a full professor now.” The universities must consider this anomaly seriously to prevent losing their highly qualified senior teaching staff.
Now the comical angle to the situation when the country faces dire economic conditions. The Punjab caretaker government reportedly allocated Rs2.3 billion for the purchase of luxury vehicles for its civil servants. The Assistant Commissioners will drive 4X4 Revos. The Additional Commissioners in each division will drive top-of-the-line Toyota Corolla Altis. The officials allocated these vehicles to the lower rung of the ruling class. In what style the upper layer of the civil service lives on state expense could be well imagined.
The front page news on a newspaper informs that the prime minister enhanced the salaries of those in management positions. The salary of the MP-1 increased from a minimum of Rs 629,230 to a maximum of Rs 772,780 per month. These are only the salary amounts; other privileges like palatial accommodation and a fleet of cars must go along with the salaries and ranks.
Senator Raza Rabbani has highly criticised the PM’s decision to such a heavy increase in salaries of the select class. Every government that takes over claims that ordinary people are its base and vote-bank but it doesn’t deliver to them as much as it serves itself and the bureaucracy that’s part of it. Shall we say it’s a dichotomy at its best?
Moreover, the state of public welfare, especially those living below the poverty line, is rarely mentioned in the newspapers or on TV shows. During Justice Bandial’s era, newspapers, TV and YouTubers mostly covered the cases in various courts. It was during the same period that Imran Niazi came out as the winner in every case. A judge with a sense of humour granted Niazi bail even in offences he had yet to commit. It was a golden period of justice for a single individual and also for Justice Bandial who delivered his style of justice.
The writer is a Lahore-based columnist and can be reached at [email protected]